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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194333">Some things don't change I guess</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GimbleGamble/pseuds/GimbleGamble'>GimbleGamble</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Garden Bed [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hermitcraft RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Cuddling, Finally giving Keralis the spotlight he deserves, Fluff, M/M, Maintenance bits, Multi, Polyhermits - Freeform, a bit more active than past entries, garden bed, soft, surprisingly enough we're nowhere near Mumbo's base right now</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:35:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GimbleGamble/pseuds/GimbleGamble</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Keralis still doesn't know what the piston thing does and at this point he's too afraid to ask. Best just to collect the messages and bind them into a nice little book, add it to his ever growing collection of treasures to place in his diamond encrusted office.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keralis/MumboJumbo, Mumralis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Garden Bed [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Some things don't change I guess</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This one's a bit wistful I think</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>
  <span>While it was curiosity that brought him here the first time, Keralis can't quite determine what makes him return every now and then. Whenever he has a lengthy break in between restocking his shops or working on his base and no one’s up for a little minigame spree, he finds himself flying towards a little platform in the middle of the sea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Staring at the clean white box with a mounting sense of calm, he let a giggle pass through his lips at the sight of his friend's moustache adorning the outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He spots the entrance and slips inside with practised ease, finding himself in the artificial landscape that surrounds their local AI, Grumbot. It was as pristine as always, carefully manufactured to give the robot his own little slice of paradise. The distant sounds of pistons opening signalled the arrival of a soft sweeping breeze causing the grass and leaves to sway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keralis smiled and took a deep breath, he tossed his cap aside to let the wind tousle his hair. He’s explored every inch of this box and he still can’t believe the attention to detail both Mumbo and Grian put into this place. From the distinct terraforming to get that ‘in the distance’ effect, to the subtle redstone blanketing the whole place, it mixed wonderfully forming a cohesive build that just... works.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even that piston thing! He assumes Grumbot couldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>the wind exactly, so the timed pistons that open every now and then to let the sea breeze in was completely for aesthetic purposes… Probably?... Maybe.</span>
</p>
<p>Keralis shook his head, refusing to think about pistons and redstone.</p>
<p>
  <span>He approached Grumbot, eyebrow rising in confusion, his pixelated face was a bit dimmer than usual and his eyes were closed. This worried Keralis, he’s never seen Grumbot like this before, the robot was usually either awake and active or completely shut down. Was Grumbot sick? Can robots get sick? Upon closer inspection, tiny little z’s were blinking by his moustache. Oh! he’s probably just on a standby mode of some sort, that’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>adorable!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>He tiptoed closer,<span> still a bit cautious since he </span><em><span>is</span></em><span> technically trespassing. He didn't stop until he heard the low continuous hum that emanated from the gigantic robot’s body. The sound used to unnerve him honestly, but the more he got used to it the more calming it felt.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe that’s why he kept coming back, it was a calming little place seemingly disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His foot got caught on something and he tripped, landing face first into the grass by Grumbot’s panels. It was a soft landing thankfully, but he still glared at whatever it was that caused him to trip. His face immediately softened seeing a sleek black suit and sprawled limbs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keralis couldn’t help himself, smiling fondly, seeing that Mumbo hasn’t changed this particular habit of his.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“oh Bumbo” he sighed as he stood, quietly approaching the sleeping hermit, careful not to wake him up. Keralis wondered </span>
  <em>
    <span>how</span>
  </em>
  <span> he didn’t see him earlier with his suit in stark contrast with green grass surrounding him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sat down by Mumbo’s head, admiring the relaxed rise and fall of the redstoner’s chest. It’s been a while, he supposes, since he’s seen Mumbo completely at ease like this. Way back when in a different time and in a different place, moments like these were a bit more frequent. But ever since he came back everything’s always been a bit hectic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t even notice that he’d started running his hand through silky black locks out of familiar muscle memory. The only thing that brought him out of his daze was hearing Mumbo stir. Keralis smiled sheepishly, wondering if he did wake the redstoner up after all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mumbo cracked an eye open, immediately lighting up as he recognised Keralis.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“hey Keralis” he mumbled, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, the builder beamed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello sweetface” he plucked a stray blade of grass from Mumbo’s hair “I see you’re still falling asleep wherever you drop” Mumbo huffed at that, letting out a little groan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you knew about that and didn’t tell me” he pouted, Keralis giggled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What can I say, I like waking up with a surprise guest in bed with me” he waggled his eyebrows, making Mumbo laugh out loud. Keralis’ hand stilled just for a moment before returning to playfully pinch Mumbo’s cheek. A hand covered his own and he smiled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“well I’ll have you know that I made a </span>
  <em>
    <span>conscious </span>
  </em>
  <span>decision to take a nap here today” Mumbo sat up, lightly brushing off the bits of dirt that stuck on his suit “I thought it’d be nice to get a bit of a snooze in before doing a bit of maintenance on Grumbot here” Keralis jolted, worry knitting his eyebrows together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh! am I interrupting?” he asked hurriedly, ready to leave the redstoner to his business, Mumbo smiled and shook his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“not at all! I’d love some company” he stood and opened a nearby enderchest, he took out his redstone box with quiet trepidation. Did he remember to refill his supplies?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“spank you!” Keralis relaxed back down. He watched Mumbo move in awe, checking and double checking the observers and comparators in his hand. Seeing him work like this, Keralis thinks he’ll never really </span>
  <em>
    <span>truly </span>
  </em>
  <span>understand redstone, at least not to the extent of making a conscious being using pistons, dispensers, and red dust…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Best not to think too hard about that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mumbo pressed a button on the panel which caused Grumbot’s screen to lighten, the pair watched with bated breath as pixels dropped in from up high to fill up the outline of his moustache. The startup sequence continued until it completely filled out, Grumbot blinked, a short little tune played as the robot stretched his arms up above his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Grumbot!” Mumbo waved “We have a guest with us today!” he gestured towards Keralis as the builder stood to wave at him as well</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The moment Grumbot’s eyes landed on Keralis he paused, then smiled, excitedly waving his arms around. A piece of paper shot out of the dispenser with such force that, when it hit Mumbo square on the face, it stuck. Keralis laughed at the sight as Mumbo peeled the note off his face to read it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“oh?” Mumbo’s eyes twinkled in amusement. Keralis blinks at him owlishly, curiosity pouring off him in waves.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“what did he say?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Grumbot says he recognises you” Mumbo grinned, making Keralis gasp in excitement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“he does?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“yeah! he says you visit him sometimes, is that true?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keralis froze, oh no, his criminal past of trespassing is being uncovered right in front of his comically large eyes, whatever shall he do?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“it- it might be?… ok fine yes, sometimes” he admitted sheepishly, then frowned looking up at Mumbo with uncertainty “I’m sorry I didn’t know if I was allowed to or not”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“oh no no it's ok, Grian and I appreciate it!” Mumbo reassured him “Grumbot loves guests, but uhh, since the election he hasn’t had the chance to... meet people”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“oh! right...” Keralis paused looking at Grumbot’s cheerful face “erm, how is he about the whole… mayor thing?” he whispered, discreetly covering his mouth from the robot’s curious gaze. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“we’re trying to um, introduce better, more neutral goals for him to work towards” a tired smile that spoke </span>
  <b>
    <em>volumes</em>
  </b>
  <span> graced Mumbo’s features, Keralis decided (wisely) not to ask the redstoner to elaborate. Another piece of paper hit Mumbo on the back of his head. He handed the note to Keralis who immediately beamed at the message.<br/></span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“HELLO GUEST! I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY! :D”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“aawwww! Hello Grumbot!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh hold on, here” Mumbo pulled out a stack of papers and handed one to Keralis “we’ve scrapped the whole diamond input thing, which was a pretty </span>
  <em>
    <span>odd</span>
  </em>
  <span> idea to be honest” he muttered the last part under his breath as he passed the ink and quill to Keralis. “You just need to write your message in paper and enter it into his system”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“oh spank you Bumbo!” he hummed thinking of what he’d want to say to the robot “Hello Grumbot, my name is Keralis, I love your face ♡” he hummed again, showing the paper to Mumbo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“that’s good! you want me to send it in?” Keralis nodded frantically, clutching at Mumbo’s sleeve as the redstoner took his note and fed it to the system. A couple of button presses and a nice little ‘ding’ later another paper ejected itself right into Keralis’ waiting hands</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“HELLO GUEST_KERALIS, I ALSO LOVE YOUR FACE (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“aaaAAAWWW BUMBO I LOVE HIM!” Keralis yelled, wildly shaking the poor hermit into a stupor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad to hear that” Mumbo wheezed out a laugh, leaning on Keralis until the world stopped spinning. He reached for a piece of paper from the pile and wrote his own message with a bit of difficulty “Maintenance time Grumbot, how are you feeling?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beep, beep, boop, DING! another piece of paper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“DOING OK DAD, COMPARATOR 38P SUBOPTIMAL CONDITIONS, PISTON 3N NEEDS ATTENTION AS WELL”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A piston door opened on Grumbot’s side revealing the spaghetti wiring underneath, Mumbo paused searching his inventory for something. He didn’t seem to find whatever it was, so he opted to hastily scribble another message to Grumbot.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did Grian leave the schematics with you or did he bring it with him?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beep, beep, boop, DING! once again another paper</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“DAD LEFT IT IN A CHEST INSIDE GRUMBOT”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mumbo snorted stepping inside the redstone mess to retrieve the thick book from the aforementioned chest, he went back out and sat on the grass beside Keralis, thumbing through the necessary chapters to confirm the location of the parts that needed to be fixed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keralis dropped down beside him, peeking over the redstoner’s shoulder to try and see its contents, </span>
  <em>
    <span>surely </span>
  </em>
  <span>there were some juicy secrets written in-… well if there were any he wouldn’t be able to make heads nor tails of it! Each page was filled with symbols and connecting lines, there were barely any words on it and of the few that were there he could barely make out what it was supposed to spell. Whose handwriting was that? Grian’s?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stopped trying to decipher the strange doodles, just in case he gets a headache from thinking too hard, instead he focused on a completely different topic as he read Grumbot’s replies</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t know you and Brian were fathers!” He grins bumping Mumbo’s shoulder with his own, the redstoner chuckles pulling out some paper to write things down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“that we are, I guess” he shrugged, double-checking his notes “it’s one of those things that you’d least expect to come out of a mayoral race”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> expects to gain a robot son from a mayoral race” Keralis snickered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“ha, that is true… oh! speaking of Grumbot, could you help me with something?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“of course Bumbo! anything for you”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“would you mind talking with Grumbot while I fix him? You’d also need to relay messages between us while I’m inside” Mumbo continued holding up another stack of papers and a fresh bottle of ink “doing it alone is a bit of a chore since I’d need to weave in and out of the wirings just to ask him questions”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’d love to!” Keralis’ impressively large eyes sparkled in excitement, he’s always wanted to talk to Grumbot, and now that he’s been given the chance there’s no way he isn’t taking it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“thank you so much K!” Mumbo quickly scribbled a message to Grumbot “Keralis is going to help us with maintenance Grumbot, tell him if you feel anything weird ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“OK DAD, GUEST_KERALIS I AM IN YOUR CARE ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧” Keralis vibrated, happy tears pouring out of his eyes as he clutched the notes from Grumbot close to his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“can I keep these Bumbo?” he pleaded, he’d even pay for them if Mumbo so much as asked. A diamond a piece! wait no that’s too much, two diamonds a piece?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“of course dude, they’re all yours” Mumbo chuckled, gathering up all the materials that he can hold and transporting them inside Grumbot. Keralis looked at the notes from earlier that were intended for Mumbo, innocently laying on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well… Mumbo did say ‘all’... right?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“can you hear me Keralis?” the builder jumped, quickly deciding to leave the notes alone for now to focus on Mumbo’s voice. It came through alright, if a bit muffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can hear you Bumbo!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“alright I’m starting, tell me if Grumbot says anything”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The maintenance went as well as they expected, fixing something tends to lead into new little issues and fixing </span>
  <em>
    <span>those </span>
  </em>
  <span>well… It wasn’t all that bad though. Keralis got to gossip with Grumbot (mostly about his dads) while Mumbo relayed little updates about what he was doing inside the wirings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fixes that Grumbot needed seem to be easy enough, seeing that it was mostly just replacing some wires or components and slathering slime onto pistons, once they got into the groove of things time passed fairly quickly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was dark out when they ran the final diagnostics test, it was the one that took the longest too so they decided to get dinner while they waited for it to finish. Sitting on the soft grass, belly full of delicious food, sharing a whole pumpkin pie as dessert, while talking about the past and their current projects, It felt nice... like a little picnic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keralis sighed contentedly letting the breeze caress his face. He took a sideways glance at Mumbo who was sitting beside him, staring up at Grumbo with a tired smile on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I missed you Mumbo” Keralis turned to face the redstoner, surprising himself at how somber it came out. He watched as Mumbo raised his eyebrows in surprise, cheeks tinted with pink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I missed you too Keralis” Mumbo smiled, nudging Keralis with his shoulder, he must’ve been more tired than he thought as he ended up leaning on the builder instead. His eyes drooped, ruining the soft moment with a yawn. Keralis snickered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“come here Bumbo” he shifts his position, gently guiding Mumbo’s head to lie on his lap. As he settled in his position, Keralis’ eyes shone “now </span>
  <em>
    <span>there's</span>
  </em>
  <span> a familiar sight” the redstoner laughed softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“true enough” he sighed, looking up at Keralis with a soft smile. The builder’s hands found their way back into Mumbo’s hair, playing with the strands like he always tended to do. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stayed like that for a while, content in the silence and warmth of each other’s presence, that is, until Keralis yawned too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“might as well sleep it off huh” Mumbo teased, reaching a hand up to poke Keralis’ cheek. He laughs and falls sideways, curling up against Mumbo with a giggle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“now this </span>
  <b>
    <em>really </em>
  </b>
  <span>brings me back” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Mumbo to pull him closer to his chest. The redstoner sighed contentedly and let the distant sound of waves carry him to sleep.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>A soft chime played from Grumbot, announcing the completion of the test. Grumbot blinked, the test took longer than expected but it did come up all green. He printed out the results and compiled it in a neat little book.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked around and saw Dad and Guest_Keralis sleeping on the grass right in front of him. He took note of the current temperature.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, as to not disturb the sleeping hermits, he reached into the storage he had hidden away to grab a well used blanket, he carefully draped it over Dad and Guest_Keralis.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grumbot smiled and activated standby mode.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you saw my post on tumblr the other day I'm only a day late (◕ᴗ◕✿)</p>
<p>This started out as a study on how the Mumralis dynamic works, then it kinda... melted into this. Watching their videos, Keralis was the only hermit I've seen who went back into Grumbot's box multiple times and I thought it was pretty sweet of him to do so. Also I think full-sized Grumbot isn't given enough love so I've added my piece into the pile.</p>
<p>It's a lot more active than our other Garden Bed entries as well! Maybe it's the change in scenery, maybe its the fact that I already had Keralis in the base garden and got inspired to write him in his own standalone Garden Bed entry. Who can say? Me?</p>
<p>Mmhmm I have also been inspired by the fact that Keralis and Mumbo collabed pretty frequently back in the second season of Hermitcraft, before Keralis got lost in the whole netherportal realm only to pop back in to exsistence a couple years later, Do you guys think time passed by slowly for him floating in nothingness for <em>years</em>? Or was it just a blink of an eye? Coming back to find out your friends have years worth of memories without you.</p>
<p>Um on a lighter note! How are we all doing babes? Still kicking I hope ( ꈍᴗꈍ)  Is this the very first Mumralis fic? I wouldn't know how to check lol. I'm posting stuff on tumblr a bit more frequently too! Drop by for some art and gif comics and lengthier rambles, its gimblegamble as well. Feel free to message me about stuff and things too! I'll do my best to reply.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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